Wireless routers broadcast network names often referred to as SSIDs or Service Set Identifiers. Client devices receive and use network names to identify a particular wireless router with which a connection is desired. In other words, network names are intended to differentiate one wireless router from another.
To establish a connection with a wireless router, a client device receives and displays the names of the available wireless networks. The user then selects the desired wireless network. For example, suppose a user of a laptop computer equipped with WiFi communication capabilities wishes to establish a communication session with a wireless access point. The user interacts with a user interface on the laptop computer to identify the network name of the desired access point, and then proceeds to take the appropriate steps to establish a wireless connection with that access point.
Typically, when a wireless router is manufactured, it is preconfigured with a default network name. This default name is embedded in the software that is resident on the wireless router. To minimize cost and complexity in manufacturing, typically the same software is embedded into every router for a given production run. As a result, every wireless router that is manufactured with the same software will have the same network name. Often, the name corresponds to the manufacturer or model number of the wireless router.
In environments where only one network name is broadcast, there is no ambiguity in identifying and establishing the correct communication link. However, in situations where multiple wireless networks are available, the user must rely on the broadcasted network name to identify the correct device with which to establish the communication link. If two or more candidate wireless routers share the same default network name, the user will not be able to distinguish between the two devices, and is forced to rely on trial and error or some other inefficient means to identify and establish the correct connection.
Wireless router manufacturers generally provide some form of administration tool allowing a user to replace the non-unique default network name. For example, many wireless routers can serve an administration web page to a computer that is connected to the wireless access point. From this administration web page, the user can replace the default network name with a unique value. In this manner, the user can create a more unique network name for the access point. If chosen properly, this new name can distinguish one wireless router from all other WiFi devices within radio range. Unfortunately, manually setting an SSID can prove error prone and burdensome. Even when the user is comfortable with manually setting the SSID, there is no reasonable assumption that the user selected name is unique with respect to other names not currently within radio range. Having a unique SSID can prove beneficial when the user is moves from place to place.